Holidays to La Orotava in Tenerife are all about sampling the life of Tenerife's rich and famous as La Orotava was home to many of the island’s wealthiest and noblest families who settled here after the Spanish conquest.
The valley’s fertile slopes were the perfect growing medium for firstly sugar, then vines, both crops yielding fortunes for the wealthy landowners of the town.
Today the slopes of the valley are carpeted with Tenerife’s current cash crop – bananas, and the town of La Orotava is still Tenerife’s most aristocratic. The streets of the old town are lined with Renaissance mansions and awash with architectural treasures. There are beautiful churches and convents; independent and exclusive shops; elegant restaurants and beautiful gardens. Leave yourself plenty of time to explore.
The town is blessed (ouch) with an abundance of churches and monasteries, the best of which are the Iglesia de la Concepción – a Gothic masterpiece, and the Iglesia de San Agustín – A Baroque masterpiece.
Floral perfection is provided by the perfectly manicured beds of the formal Victoria Gardens with their mausoleum and by the lushly tropical contrasting chaos of the botanical gardens.
If you’re lucky enough to time your visit with the Feast of Corpus Christi, normally in early June, (on 14th June in 2012) streets are covered in flower carpets and the town hall provides the setting for a breathtaking tapestry of flowers, coloured soil and sand which has just entered the Guinness Book of Records as the largest of its kind in the world. It’s a sight to behold.
Today the slopes of the valley are carpeted with Tenerife’s current cash crop – bananas, and the town of La Orotava is still Tenerife’s most aristocratic. The streets of the old town are lined with Renaissance mansions and awash with architectural treasures. There are beautiful churches and convents; independent and exclusive shops; elegant restaurants and beautiful gardens. Leave yourself plenty of time to explore.